Mandating renewable energy missing in Southeast

Aug 8, 2011

In the United States, there are only 11 states that do not possess voluntary or mandatory requirements for how much green energy utility companies must buy and eight of those states are in the Southeast.

States opting out of the mandate are as follows: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Many states have engaged in this as a means to job creation and to reduce dependency on fossil fuels, but conservative politicians argue that mandates such as these could be costly and damaging to economies during times of economic recession. Energy companies in these areas have also been quick to lobby against such measures, having spent over $74 million on federal lobbying this year to maintain regional monopolies.

Currently, residents in these states have some of the lowest electricity bills in the country — and many legislators believe that requiring energy companies to engage in activities that would ultimately raise their constituents bills would be unpopular.

Encouraging our Southern states to embrace renewable energy as a means towards reducing dependency on fossil fuels and furthering  job creation and technological expansion are goals of the Center (as outlined in our agenda) and we believe that pushing our states to adopt these types of mandates are exactly what it is going to take to move our country forward.